Milena "Mila" Zolnerowich
Milena is the main focus of Mirror Image, first in the two-part Inglorious Basterds series. Early Life Mila along with her twin sister, Mishka, was born in Germnay in 1916 to Borya and Anna Zolnerowich. The two Russians had immigrated to Germany a few years earlier to escape the Russian Revolution, as such their daughters grew up speaking Russian and German. Milena, unlike her sister, was always very strong willed and in some ways aggressive. She wanted to work and earn for herself rather than find a husband. Despite their differences, the two sisters were very close, and Mila always looked out for Mishka, and was the only bridesmaid at her wedding in 1936. Imprisonment In 1941 Mila and Mishka fled to France after both their parents were killed in Nazi demonstrations. Taking on new identities as non-Jews, the sisters go into hiding, rarely leaving their tiny apartment, and learning English to avoid being eaves dropped on. Their life continues this way for two years before they are reported to the SS by a neighbor. In 1943, Mila and Mishka are sent with a group of other Jewish twins to a Nazi hospital where they are shaved, beaten, and brutally experimented on. Milena withstands this treatment better than Mishka, who falls easily ill and has little hope of surviving. In December of that year, the Basterds raid the hospital, killing SS members and freeing the Jewish prisoners. At the time of their arrival, Mishka is being transported to another hospital site in order to see whether or not experiments done from afar on one twin will affect the other. Not knowing this, Mila is taken from the site by Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz and Donny Donowitz. Believing her sister to be dead when she reaches Aldo's camp, Mila falls into despair and refuses to eat or drink anything for days, putting on an act that she does not understand English to avoid talking to most of the Basterds. After a while, she comes around and agrees to help kill Nazis in order to avenge her sister. Becoming a Basterd Mila is a fast learner and good with a gun, but many of the men do not trust her, especially Aldo after learning she had always known how to speak English. Still she manages to form friendships with Stiglitz, Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki, and Smithson Utivich, the last of whom develops an unrequited crush on her. Mila is often forced to carry heavy gear and clean unloaded weapons while the men go about killing Nazis. This ends with winter when, while left behind (tied to a tree) Mila is attacked by a group of men, many of whom she ends up having to shoot with a gun grabbed off her first attacker. After being saved by Stiglitz, the German insists she be allowed her freedom and the right to carry a weapon of her own. Aldo reluctantly agrees, stating she is now Hugo's responsibility. Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz Paired together during most missions, and forced to share a cot, Mila and Hugo become reluctant friends. She secretly admires him, but will not admit it, instead choosing to treat him with cold indifference until he finds her crying over a child's toy that had reminded her of Mishka. Seeking comfort in him, the two wind up sleeping together, much to Hugo's dismay. Though he is obviously reluctant to carry on with her, Milena continues to make passes at Stiglitz, often slipping into his cot and doing her best to seduce him. She gives the reason that they are alone, but they don't have to be. Eventually Hugo concedes and the two begin to carry on a sexual relationship. It is not hinted that there could be more to it until Mila is almost killed in an ambush of an SS truck. Hugo brutally beats the Nazi that attacked Mila to death and then refuses to talk to her, telling her to stay away from his cot that night. It is Utivich (already having been told off by Mila for his advances) that ends up explaining to her that the man has developed feelings for her. She goes to him and begs to be let into his heart, the two embracing as Mila cries. Finding Mishka The day after Mila and Hugo start an official relationship, while raiding another Nazi hospital, the Basterds find and rescue a young woman whom they bring back to the camp. After washing away dirt and blood, Mila realizes it is her twin and cries with joy, rousing the girl to share a hug. The two are nearly inseparable after that, sharing a cot and Mila refusing to go on missions if her sister is not going. Mishka does not approve of Stiglitz at first, but eventually comes to respect him and his fierce protectiveness of Mila. She herself forms a semi-relationship with Smithson, and reluctantly agrees to travel with the Basterds - if only to stay with her sister. Death Mila was one of the people sent to participate in the first steps of "Operation Kino". She had insisted on being part of the plan, not wanting to pass up an opportunity to kill Hitler. She was also one of the few in the group that spoke German not including her sister who refused to have any part in it. Against Hugo and Mishka's wishes, she was with Wilhelm and Stiglitz during the rendezvous with Bridget von Hammmersmark and as a result was killed in the gun fight that broke out in the underground tavern. By the time the Basterds are able to safely enter with Mishka, Mila had died from multiple bullet wounds.